Browser Security News

Two different browser statistics companies issued contradictory reports over the past week, highlighting the difficultly in obtaining accurate usage numbers of Internet Explorer and Firefox. But despite their differences, IE6 still holds a commanding share of the market in both surveys.

Net Applications, based in the United States and whose statistics are based on its HitsLink visitor tracking product for Web sites, said that usage of IE6 has fallen to its lowest levels yet: 82.1 percent. That number is down from 83 percent in August, the company reported, adding that Firefox picked up much of the difference.

According to Net Applications, Firefox usage has reached 12.5 percent worldwide, up from 11.8 percent in August and 11.3 percent in July. Apple’s Safari Web browser also picked up a few points, moving from 3.2 percent to 3.5 percent usage, according to the survey.

"Internet Explorer continues to lose market share with Firefox and Safari showing a steady increase over the past 9 months," Net Applications said in a statement.

However, Dutch analytics firm OneStat.com offered a contrary report of the market. It claims Internet Explorer reclaimed nearly 3 percentage points worldwide, while Firefox usage has dropped 1.44 percent in the same timeframe. According to OneStat, IE holds 85.85 percent of the global browser market. BetaNews | Browser Usage Stats Show IE Up, Down